Putin dismisses Trump intel-sharing furor

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump faced fallout Wednesday over revelations that he personally appealed to now-fired FBI Director James Comey to abandon the bureau's investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, allegations based on notes Comey wrote after the meeting.

The White House has denied the report, which came amid a furor over the president's discussions with Russian diplomats in which Trump is said to have disclosed classified information.

In a bizarre twist on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to turn over to Congress records of Trump's discussions.

The White House has played down the importance and secrecy of the information Trump gave to the Russians, which had been supplied by Israel under an intelligence-sharing agreement. Trump himself said he had "an absolute right" as president to share "facts pertaining to terrorism" and airline safety with Russia. Yet U.S. allies and some members of Congress expressed concern bordering on alarm.

Putin told a news conference that he would be willing to turn over notes of Trump's meeting with the Russian diplomats if the White House agreed. He dismissed outrage over Trump's disclosures as U.S. politicians whipping up "anti-Russian sentiment."

Asked what he thinks of the Trump presidency, Putin said it's up to the American people to judge but his performance can only be rated "only when he's allowed to work at full capacity," implying that someone is hampering Trump's efforts.

Trump left the White House Wednesday morning to head to Connecticut where he was scheduled to give the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

As for Comey, whom Trump fired last week, the FBI director wrote in a memo after a February meeting at the White House that the new president had asked him to shut down the FBI's investigation of Flynn and his Russian contacts, said a person who had read the memo. The Flynn investigation was part of a broader probe into Russian interference in last year's presidential election.

Comey's memo, an apparent effort to create a paper trail of his contacts with the White House, would be the clearest evidence to date that the president has tried to influence the investigation.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, sent a letter to the FBI on Tuesday requesting that it turn over all documents and recordings that detail communications between Comey and Trump. He said he would give the FBI a week and then "if we need a subpoena, we'll do it."

The panel's top Democrat, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, a constant Trump critic, called the allegation of Trump pressure on Comey "explosive" and said "it appears like a textbook case of criminal obstruction of justice."

John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said late Tuesday that the developments had reached "Watergate size and scale."

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, said simply, "It would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the White House."

The person who described the Comey memo to the AP was not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The existence of the memo was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times.

The White House vigorously denied it all. "While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn," a White House statement said.

Trump fired Flynn on Feb. 13, on grounds that he had misled Vice-President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russians.

The intensifying drama comes as Trump is set to embark Friday on his first foreign trip, which had been optimistically viewed by some aides as an opportunity to reset an administration floundering under an inexperienced president.

When Trump fired Comey, he said he did so based on Comey's very public handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe and how it affected his leadership of the FBI. But the White House has provided differing accounts of the firing. And lawmakers have alleged that the sudden ouster was an attempt to stifle the bureau's investigation into Trump associates' ties to Russia's meddling in the campaign.

Mark Warner of Virginia, top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said he would ask Comey for additional material as part of that panel's investigation. "Memos, transcripts, tapes -- the list keeps getting longer," he said.

According to the Times, Comey wrote in the February memo that Trump told him Flynn had done nothing wrong. Comey said he replied that "I agree he is a good guy" but said nothing to Trump about limiting the investigation.

The newspaper said Comey was in the Oval Office that day with other national security officials for a terrorism threat briefing. When that ended, Trump asked everyone to leave except Comey, and he eventually turned the conversation to Flynn.

The administration spent the first half of Tuesday defending Trump's disclosure of classified information to senior Russian officials. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said the president's comments were "wholly appropriate." He used that phrase nine times in his briefing to reporters.

The highly classified information about an Islamic State plot was collected by Israel, a crucial source of intelligence and close partner in the fight against some of the America's fiercest threats in the Middle East. Trump's disclosure of the information threatened to fray that partnership and piled pressure on the White House to explain the apparently on-the-spot decision to reveal the information to Russian diplomats in the Oval Office.

A U.S. official who confirmed the disclosure to The Associated Press said the revelation potentially put the source at risk.

Associated Press writers Vivian Salama and Jill Colvin contributed

Here's a look at the latest updates on this developing story (all times EDT):

10 a.m.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says Congress must gather all relevant information before "rushing to judgment" on President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Ryan told reporters Wednesday that Congress "can't deal with speculation and innuendo." He says there is "clearly a lot of politics being played."

Ryan says a House committee has "appropriately" requested a Comey memo describing a February meeting he had with Trump. A person familiar with the document says Comey wrote that Trump asked him to drop the bureau's investigation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Ryan raised questions about Comey's account of that meeting. The Wisconsin Republican says Congress will want to know if Trump asked Comey to end the probe, "why didn't he take action at the time."

----

8 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has lashed out at U.S. politicians whipping up what he described as "anti-Russian sentiment" for being either "stupid" or "dangerous."

Speaking at a joint news conference with the visiting Italian prime minister, Putin said on Wednesday Moscow initially found debates about Russia's meddling in U.S. politics as "funny" but said Moscow is now "concerned because it's hard to imagine what the people who produce such nonsense can come up with next."

Putin dismissed the U.S. politicians, whom he did not identify, as either being "stupid" or "dangerous and unscrupulous" who are wittingly "causing the damage to their own country."

Asked what he thinks of Trump presidency, Putin said it's up to the American people to judge but his performance can only be rated "only when he's allowed to work at full capacity," implying that someone is hampering Trump's efforts.

------

7:35 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the ongoing scandal around U.S. President Donald Trump sharing classified intelligence with Russian officials as "political schizophrenia."

Trump came under fire earlier this week after it was revealed that he shared the sensitive intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak.

Speaking at a joint news conference with the visiting Italian prime minister on Wednesday, Putin said he had "no other explanation" as to why Trump came under attack other than "political schizophrenia." Putin even suggested that Russia share the records of last week's talks between Trump and Lavrov with the U.S. Congress, if the White House approved.

Putin joked that that he would reprimand Lavrov because "he hasn't shared those secrets with us."

----

6:45 a.m.

The Kremlin isn't commenting on the details of the classified information that U.S. President Donald Trump shared with the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador last week.

The White House on Tuesday defended Trump discussing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak an Islamic State group terror threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.

Speaking to Russian news agencies on Wednesday Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, would not comment the contents of last week's talks among Trump, Lavrov and Kislyak.

Ushakov said "any contacts" with the U.S. president are "important" but he would not reply to the question whether the classified information that Trump reportedly shared with Lavrov and Kislyak was valuable for Russia.

------

3:10 a.m.

U.S. President Donald Trump personally appealed to FBI Director James Comey to abandon the bureau's investigation into National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to notes Comey wrote after the meeting.

The White House issued a furious denial after the notes were disclosed late Tuesday, near the end of a tumultuous day spent beating back potentially disastrous news reports from dawn to dusk.

The bombshell Comey news came as the beleaguered administration was still struggling mightily to explain Monday's revelation that the president had disclosed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and the country's ambassador to the United States.

Defending Trump's actions, officials played down the importance and secrecy of the information, which had been supplied by Israel under an intelligence-sharing agreement, and Trump himself said he had "an absolute right" as president to share "facts pertaining to terrorism" and airline safety with Russia.

Photos

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak at the White House in Washington, on May 10, 2017. (Russian Foreign Ministry Photo via AP)